Non Serviam

Those who bear the blame for society’s ills often form the backbone of that very society. Where would the lawyer be without the criminal? The businessman without the greedy public? The pious inquisitor without the witch? They’d degenerate into madmen and criminals in their own right, never mind that they often already are. Society has deemed their behavior acceptable while that of the reject is abomination. And thus we have established a code of conduct, defined by the very souls who’d dare break it.

Who are those rebels today? They could be anyone. They could be heroes. They could be the outspoken one who doesn’t give a god damn if their peers call them racist or xenophobic. They could be those who won’t be silenced in the name of political correctness, for what good does such a silence do? None; it harms. Take the case of the critic of Islam, perhaps a former Muslim herself. When we silence this rebel in our irrational and selfish fear of being called phobic, racist, or intolerant, we may as well hold down the little girl who gets her child’s vagina hacked off and stitched shut on the blessed altar of the almighty hymen. When we silence those who speak out against genuine misogyny, abuse, or religious terror, we silence those who have been killed or abused in its name. This is not liberalism. This is not enlightened tolerance. This is cowardice. This is collusion with barbarism and a slap in the face of those who have suffered in yet another prophet’s infallible name.

Those putting their hands over our mouths don’t want citizens speaking out against a religion or a race. They don’t want freedom of speech! When theirs is taken away by the same brash minorities they foolishly defend, I don’t want to hear a single grumbling complaint. Oh, but they will moan and groan. They’ll ask how did this happen and they’ll never see the part they played. When the feminist and the gay rights activist jump on the band wagon du-jour of today’s so-called liberals and tell us we can’t judge another culture end up raped, stoned, or beheaded by that very culture ~ a culture that openly condemns and abuses them ~ should we say I told you so? Some of us will. Some of us will defend them. And we start now by refusing to silence our dissent, by not caring one damn bit about political correctness, by saying NO.

Legend has it that Lucifer said no; Non serviam, in fact. I will not serve, is what he declared. Religious considerations aside, I’ll spare you a lengthy diatribe on the evolution of this literary character and his parallels in other cultures. It must suffice to say that he is the penultimate rebel with a cause. In one version of this oft-told tale, he would not serve that which he deemed immoral. Nor will I. I will not bow down to those who advise me to cover myself lest I entice a rapist. I will not tolerate the genital mutilation of children or the practice of arranged marriages to little girls. I will not silence my voice to avoid offending those who scream racist! with every breath. Tolerance is one thing ~ and a beautiful thing ~ but bending over for each and every cultural group that admittedly and repeatedly violates basic human rights is another matter altogether. This I will not do. Non serviam, I’ll say, with every breath in me.

When society has gone awry, we need rebels to set it aright. Non Serviam. Say it. Repeat it. Live it.